BarcelonaXavi Hernández and his coaching staff have won the renewal in dust. At least, this is what President Joan Laporta conveyed in an appearance at the Círculo Ecuestre this Tuesday. L’Egarenc replied, in the afternoon and at an event in Terrassa, that “first titles and then renewal”. If at the end of September, as published by ARA, extending and improving the player’s contract was not a priority for the Barcelona president, now, things have changed.
The good dynamics in the League and the return of excitement to the Camp Nou – the average attendance this season is 82,492 spectators – have turned the tide. The achievement of the Spanish Super Cup with a recital against Real Madrid (1-3), the nine points margin over the whites in the League and planting the team in the semi-finals of the Cup are part of the argument that has led Laporta to speak resoundingly about the coach’s continuity.
Even if he didn’t initially believe it because of his lack of experience (and because of his connection to Víctor Font), the top Culer leader has ended up finding Xavi a coach who gives him stability. In fact, the announcement that wants to renew it goes along the same lines: to send a message of strength that also implies a boost of optimism and tranquility in the dressing room for the final stretch of the course. During his first presidency of the organization (2003-2010), Laporta only had two coaches: Frank Rijkaard (2003-2008) and Pep Guardiola, who would end up leaving in the summer of 2012, already with Sandro Rosell in the presidency.
The Dutchman held on when things were getting worse and time proved him right with the achievement of two Leagues (2004-05 and 2005-06) and a Champions League (2005-06). When the team started to let go irreversibly, Laporta – under the advice of Johan Cruyff – opted for a very young Guardiola, who had only one year of experience as a coach of the subsidiary in the Third Division, and the club lived his most glorious stage, in terms of game and titles.
The coach of Santpedor accepted the challenge with a humble salary, of less than 3 million gross euros plus goals, which Laporta would not be slow to improve after a year full of successes such as the achievement of the treble that same year (2008-09) and that would extend to a historic sextet. In June 2009, its expansion was launched, which would be officially completed in January 2010, and tripled the initial amount to be collected. Guardiola then extended his bond for another year. Xavi and his work team, as ARA has been able to learn, receive around 4 million gross plus goals, which makes him the cheapest Barça coach since Guardiola had hair. Both Tito Vilanova and Tata Martino, Luis Enrique, Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setién and Ronald Koeman began their time on the Blaugrana bench with salaries higher than theirs.
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“He is very aware of the club’s situation. He doesn’t make you stretch your arm more than your sleeve, he doesn’t ask for crazy things. He is a grateful coach,” Laporta also said in relation to Xavi. “The renewal with Barça is not about money or years”, added, for his part, the coach. In addition to providing stability to the dressing room, avoiding a carousel of coaches must also be read in an economic sense. Only the dismissals of Koeman – terminated by Laporta in November 2021–, Setién and Valverde – both sacked by Bartomeu – have cost Barça close to 30 million euros due to the fact that they were dismissed while their contract was in force. The settlement of the Cantabrian is four million – in six installments -, that of the Dutchman involved an extraordinary expenditure of 12 million and, that of the winger, 11. The figure could have been higher, but the current technical Athletic Club forgave amounts from the final year of his contract, which he had signed after renewing in February 2019.
After the dismissal of Koeman and an arduous negotiation with Al-Sadd, who asked for five million to release him, Xavi arrived. The vallesian is far from the best paid technicians in the League. The one who earns the most is Cholo Simeone, manager of Atlético de Madrid since 2011, with a gross annual salary of almost 40 million euros, as revealed a few months ago The Team. He is followed by Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), with a salary of almost 12 million gross per year. Xavi’s current position is closer to that of Valverde himself, who has a contract with Athletic Club very conditional on the objectives (and which he renewed, until 2024, last February) and Imanol Alguacil, who is close to the million and half net annually thanks to Basque taxation. Manuel Pellegrini, of Betis, also has higher emoluments than those of Terrassa today.
Laporta’s intention is to improve Xavi’s conditions. Of course, with an increasing salary that improves from 2024 because the salary of the coaching staff is included in the fair play financial and Javier Tebas has already warned that Barça will continue to exceed.